In yet another acquisition, Sony has announced that Haven Studios is now a part of its family of first-party developers. Headed by Canadian video game creator Jade Raymond, famed for her work on several Ubisoft franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs, Haven Studios is also surprisingly the first studio for Sony to be based in Canada. Haven Studios will be working on a “live service experience for PlayStation built upon a systemic and evolving world focused on delivering freedom, thrill, and playfulness.”
Why Haven Studios was acquired after just a year
Haven is incredibly happy to announce that today we are joining the @Playstation Studios family. We’re excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from all the exceptional Playstation Studios teams.
To join us, please visit our website: https://t.co/QMOifk8FnK
— Haven Studios (@HavenStudiosInc) March 21, 2022
Sony’s acquisition of the studio is not out of left field, as the indie developer Haven Studios was founded last year in March with an initial investment by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The first-party publisher has a long history of giving various studios a de facto test period before choosing to purchase a developer outright, and it would seem that Haven Studios has passed with flying colors.
In a press release, President and CEO for SIE Jim Ryan highly anticipates what the studio will be bringing exclusively to the PlayStation catalog:
“The studio’s focus on creating an original AAA multiplayer game will not only flex the power of PlayStation 5 but will further expand upon the diverse catalog of gaming experiences that can only be found on PlayStation.”
Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios, also added praise for how Haven Studios, which has 60 employees and has come together in such a short time:
“[We] have been extremely impressed with its growth and progress on its first project. Jade has built a world-class team with the creative and technical prowess necessary to deliver on such an ambitious project.”
According to a post by Jade Raymond on the official PlayStation blog, she is most excited to “collaborate with some of the world’s most renowned development teams, including studios like Guerrilla, Naughty Dog, Media Molecule, and Insomniac Games.”
This acquisition falls in line with Sony’s current priorities in focusing on live-service games and adding new titles to its upcoming PlayStation subscription service still codenamed Project Spartacus.
In other news, CD Projekt Red has revealed a new Witcher game and series, and our preview for LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga describes the game as “more Empire Strikes Back than Rise of Skywalker.”
